Any Bonds Today?

What's particularly interesting about "Any Bonds Today?" is that it's the first Bugs Bunny musical. When one considers all of the big Bugs song numbers in cartoons like "Hillbilly Hare," "What's Up, Doc?", "The Rabbit of Seville," and of course "What's Opera, Doc?", it's funny to hear this early, scratchy Bugs kind of drawl his way through the title song in this trailer.

This clip sometimes pops up in documentaries about Hollywood's involvement with World War II, and it's definitely a neat little piece of miscellania to check out.

In this rare 1 1/2 minute cartoon, Bugs Bunny encourages us to buy war bonds to the music of Irving Berlin. After a bit of dancing, Bugs does a blackface ala Al Jolson, and then is joined for the finale by Elmer Fudd(the fat version) and Porky Pig. The short was rushed into production shortly after Pearl Harbor and was released in March of 1942.

With the horrors of the Vietnam War and the disaster that is the Iraq War, it may be surprising that cartoons proudly promoted war. But "Any Bonds Today?" does just that, as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and a portly Elmer Fudd (strangely, no Daffy Duck) sing a song encouraging the American people to buy war bonds to support US participation in World War II.

I will say that although I would never want to join the army, it is fairly interesting to see Bugs, Porky and Elmer (why no Daffy?) singing about WWII, even if it is propaganda. Of course, if you're expecting them to do their usual Looney Tunes stuff, you'll get mighty disappointed. This cartoon is strictly about the war effort (other cartoons had them do crazy things to the Axis leaders). And knowing that at least some good things resulted from WWII, I guess that justifies this cartoon.

So if nothing else, it's worth seeing as a historical reference.

Short with Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd who team up to tell the American people to buy their bonds (at the theatre they're in), so they can 'buy their freedom'. As Bugs says it: 'get your savings out when you hear him (the collecter) shout: any bonds today?'.

The clip ends with the words 'For Defense, buy United States saving bonds and stamps'.

It's hard to judge this (very) short movie (it only lasts about a minute and a half) 60 years after it was released in cinemas across the USA, but all I can say it has a catchy tune and might have been effective in it's days.

6/10.

I have recently discovered the blog for the new Matinée at the Bijou that PBS had revived after an absence of about 20 years. So on their listings of previous episodes, there was one devoted to propaganda shorts encouraging participation in the armed forces of World War II. One of those was a nearly 2-minute musical short cartoon from Leon Schlesinger called Any Bonds Today? that had Bugs Bunny singing the title song recently written by Irving Berlin "asking you to buy your share of freedom today-y-y-y". The wabbit also briefly changes into Jolson with black-face before being joined by Elmer and Porky for the finale. As directed by Bob Clampett, this was pretty entertaining and still provides some pleasure at seeing an emerging popular cartoon character displayed in an important Public Service spot for mass audiences at the time. For any offended by the few seconds of burnt cork on Bugs' face, be aware that this was accepted public humor at the time with no malice whatsoever. So for anyone interested in World War II history or that of Warner Bros. cartoon rarities, I highly recommend Any Bonds Today?